A four-stroke engine for atoms
If you switch a bit in the memory of a computer and then switch it back again, you have restored the original state. There are only two states that can be called "0 and 1."
If you switch a bit in the memory of a computer and then switch it back again, you have restored the original state. There are only two states that can be called "0 and 1."
Condensed Matter
Jul 6, 2022
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695
An unexpected discovery surprised a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart: Nanometer-sized diamond particles, which were intended for a completely different purpose, shone brightly in ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 25, 2024
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21
When exposed to intense laser pulses, the magnetization of a material can be manipulated very fast. Fundamentally, magnetization is connected to the angular momentum of the electrons in the material. A team of researchers ...
General Physics
May 3, 2019
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44
Superconductors are able to conduct electricity with zero resistance thanks to Cooper pairs, electron duos that team up and skate through a material unimpeded. In 2007, Brown University researchers made the surprising discovery ...
Superconductivity
Apr 22, 2019
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56
Rice University nanoscientists have demonstrated a method for loading iron inside nanoparticles to create MRI contrast agents that outperform gadolinium chelates, the mainstay contrast agent that is facing increased scrutiny ...
Bio & Medicine
Aug 22, 2018
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140
An international team of researchers in Japan is getting ready to power up a 50,000-ton neutrino detector by adding a single metal, which will turn it into the world's first detector capable of analysing exploding stars beyond ...
General Physics
Mar 2, 2016
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164
(PhysOrg.com) -- Your refrigerator’s humming, electricity-guzzling cooling system could soon be a lot smaller, quieter and more economical thanks to an exotic metal alloy discovered by an international collaboration working ...
General Physics
Jan 28, 2009
7
0
A research team from Constructor University, led by geochemist and geoscientist Prof. Dr. Michael Bau, and including his former students Lea Krohn, Franziska Klimpel and Pauline Béziat, has presented a new study on the effects ...
Environment
Jul 2, 2024
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0
Dr. Huo Zhipeng and his student Zhao Sheng from the Hefei Institutes of physical science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently developed a lead-free neutron and gamma ray composite shielding material that ...
Materials Science
Dec 23, 2021
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487
The Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory can detect different kinds of neutrino-related phenomena, including supernova explosions in our own galaxy. It is normally full of pure water, but it has recently received a dose ...
General Physics
Aug 24, 2020
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17
Gadolinium ( /ˌɡædɵˈlɪniəm/ gad-o-lin-ee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol Gd and atomic number 64. It is a silvery-white, malleable and ductile rare-earth metal. It is found in nature only in combined (salt) form. Gadolinium was first detected spectroscopically in 1880 by de Marignac who separated its oxide and is credited with its discovery. It is named for gadolinite, one of the minerals in which it was found, in turn named for geologist Johan Gadolin. The metal was isolated by Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1886.
Gadolinium metal possesses unusual metallurgic properties, with as little as 1% of gadolinium improving the workability and resistance of iron, chromium, and related alloys to high temperatures and oxidation. Gadolinium as a metal or salt has exceptionally high absorption of neutrons and therefore is used for shielding in neutron radiography and in nuclear reactors. Like most rare earths, gadolinium forms trivalent ions which have fluorescent properties. Gd (III) salts have therefore been used as green phosphors in various applications.
The Gd(III) ion occurring in water-soluble salts is quite toxic to mammals. However, chelated Gd(III) compounds are far less toxic because they carry Gd(III) through the kidneys and out of the body before the free ion can be released into tissue. Because of its paramagnetic properties, solutions of chelated organic gadolinium complexes are used as intravenously administered gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents in medical magnetic resonance imaging. However, in a small minority of patients with renal failure, at least four such agents have been associated with development of the rare nodular inflammatory disease nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. This is thought to be due to gadolinium ion itself, since Gd(III) carrier molecules associated with the disease differ.
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